Validation of the Comfort scale for relatives of people in critical states of health

OBJECTIVE: this methodological study aims to present the construct validity of the Comfort scale for family members of people in a critical state of health (ECONF). METHOD: this is a methodological study. The sample was made up of 274 family members of adults receiving inpatient treatment in six Intensive Care Units (ICU) in the State of Bahía responded to 62 items distributed in 7 dimensions. The validation procedures adopted were based on the techniques of the Classical Test Theory. RESULTS: the analysis of dimensionality was undertaken through principal components analysis, a scale being obtained with 55 items distributed in four factors: Safety, Support, Family member-relative interaction and Integration with oneself and the everyday. The analysis of the items' , discriminative power, undertaken by the item-total correlation-coefficient showed a good relationship of the items with their respective factors. From the ECONF's reliability test, from the analysis of internal consistency, a raised Alpha Cronbach coefficient was obtained for the 4 factors and the general measurement. CONCLUSION: the comfort scale presented satisfactory psychometric parameters, thus constituting the first valid instrument for evaluating the comfort of family members of people in a critical state of health. The advance made by the study lies in its theoretical framework on comfort, and provides the health team with a scale based on empirical evidence.